A charter amendment that would ban new oil and gas activities will remain on the Lafayette ballot this fall, after City Clerk Susan Koster on Friday threw out a petition challenge.

But now an industry official says the ballot measure's vague language could have unforeseen consequences -- including cutting off all natural gas to Lafayette homes.

Koster presided over a hearing on a protest brought by resident Jon Hydeman on the basis that the petition to place the oil and gas ban on the city's November ballot did not include a summary of the measure for signers to read.

Koster said Friday the petition complied with state laws governing home-rule cities.

Doug Flanders, Colorado Oil & Gas Association director of policy and external affairs, said the ruling was disappointing because the proposed amendment wasn't clear enough for those who signed the petition to understand.

"A ballot summary is important because the Lafayette ballot language is very confusing and could have incredibly damaging unintended consequences," Flanders wrote in a statement. "For example, signatories were probably unaware that approval of this ballot could stop the transportation of all natural gas through pipes, which means disallowing natural gas to your homes."

The amendment at issue, titled the Lafayette Community Rights Act, would halt all new oil and gas activity in Lafayette, including the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, if supported in November.

The citizens group that circulated the petition is calling the decision a win for local control over oil and gas activity in Lafayette. East Boulder County United argued that Lafayette's charter, which doesn't require inclusion of a summary on petitions, is protected by the Colorado Home Rule Act, which comes directly out of the state Constitution.

Koster supported that argument in her decision.

"As a home rule city, Lafayette operates under a citizen adopted charter," she wrote. "In the case of this protest, the petition submitted to amend the City's Charter complied with the Colorado Home Rule Act."

East Boulder County United spokesman Cliff Willmeng applauded the ruling.

"The ruling is beneficial to the Lafayette community action to ban hydraulic fracturing, and it further emphasizes why communities need self-determination in governing what they will look like into the future in relation to oil and gas extraction," Willmeng said.

The Lafayette City Council earlier this month passed its own three-year moratorium on licensing any new oil and gas operations in the city.

In his statement, Flanders said 26 Front Range municipalities have considered measures to limit oil and gas activities, and all but a handful of Boulder County jurisdictions have decided to resolve the issues with "dialogue, moderation and compromise."

"Fortunately, Coloradoans realize complex matters take more than a sound bite to solve and that a ban is not a plan," Flanders wrote. "Banning a product we all use every minute of our lives is damaging to the Colorado brand of compromise and reasonableness."